Trending as of late is a catchy hashtag notion of doing the activities that you love and fulfilling the desires you’ve stashed away in your heart. Don’t deny yourself. Life is truly too short to abstain from anything. You wouldn’t want to lose out on all life has to offer. #bestlifeever! What’s more is you should not let yourself get away with slumbering through the best opportunities you may get. Push yourself by asking more of yourself, and asking more of life in general.

It’s difficult not to notice the first world ostentatiousness dripping off this fad from all corners. The stereotypical picture to go along with this hashtag is the trim bodied fitness nut donning lulu lemon yoga pants in the most impressive yoga pose possible while holding a Starbucks Unicorn Frappacinno at sunrise on the beach. When I see this proposed picture of a “best life”, I begin to wonder if these things are truly part of a best life… for anyone! Many of the preachers of this gospel are in fact those that have suffered a major setback, injury, loss or challenge. Why would these things constitute the best this world has to offer?

Not to be outdone by the gurus of this new way of thinking, I can be seen in the picture in my comfortable stretchy pants, doing an impressive made up yoga pose I call the discharging dog while holding my blueberry mochachino at the crack of 3 in the afternoon. Sunrise is completely looney to shoot for!

Because I heard a famous speaker refer to the movie Chariots Of Fire some time ago and heard the story of Eric Liddle recounted, I think of it often. The segment of the movie referred to is the line where the Scottish Olympic runner tells his girlfriend, “I believe that God made me for a purpose… for China (as a missionary). But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure. To give it up would be to hold Him (God) in contempt. You were right… it’s not just fun. To win is to honor Him.” Purpose and pleasure don’t seem to make very good partners. Balance often eludes the best of us; this is a club which refused my membership before I applied.




Instead of spending our hard earned cash on yoga pants and lattes, we may be able to find pleasure in the ordinary and mundane, revelling in simple actions that we accomplish well at any given moment in our lives. Things that give us pleasure through simply accomplishing them are the prizes we take in a normal and real life. Not all of us are in a position to claim Olympic medals, Oscars or Pulitzers in highly esteemed activities. Are simple activities of everyday people as significant? I want to submit that they are even more important.

I haven’t written for some time, mostly due to the requests I have been receiving to do the things I was involved in prior to my accident. Although nervous and scared everyday, I get phone calls to come back. Hard earned abilities acquired over the years served others well and those I worked with recognized their value. Thank God! I will not understate the toll my battle with medications has had on me during this recovery process. All the same, I choose not to dwell on it. Suffice it to say it is the second great loss of my whole ordeal beginning last September. All my midget mind needs as cue to stand up and fight is to be knocked down. Even when the energy to fight reads empty on the guage, I cannot seem to muster the will to budget my efforts for the long term. It is full throttle until the energy to keep going is completely gone.

It was in the mud and mess of an irrigation repair with a foggy medicated mind that a vision of #bestlifeever hit me. I could feel the pleasure of being able to make my hands dirty and tired as I fixed a broken irrigation part. There was pleasure in simply being able to accomplish the tasks that I had become familiar with. I don’t need a special drink or special pants or specific exercises at a crazy time of day. Value in ordinary tasks is there if we look for it. Finding pleasure in life can come from dirty hands in a muddy hole with the taste of sweat in your mouth and the sting of rocks under your knees. All of this could have been taken from me, so the taste is much sweeter as I drink it all in. #bestlifeever